WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 align:middle line:84% So this is the novel I'm working on now 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:04.920 align:middle line:90% is called The Swan Gondola. 00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:12.060 align:middle line:84% And it's set in 1898 at the Omaha World's Fair. 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:15.970 align:middle line:84% And I guess that's all you need to know. 00:00:15.970 --> 00:00:17.220 align:middle line:90% So this is the very beginning. 00:00:17.220 --> 00:00:19.560 align:middle line:84% It may end up not being the beginning 00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:21.090 align:middle line:84% when the book is actually finished 00:00:21.090 --> 00:00:24.360 align:middle line:90% but for now it's beginning. 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:30.960 align:middle line:84% And it starts with a letter and it's dated October 31, 1898. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.410 align:middle line:84% To a doll faced doll with a heart shaped heart. 00:00:34.410 --> 00:00:37.140 align:middle line:84% I wish this wasn't a love letter at all Mrs. Meadows. 00:00:37.140 --> 00:00:39.390 align:middle line:84% Here's what I wish I was telling you in this letter. 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:41.580 align:middle line:84% That I've forgotten everything about you, 00:00:41.580 --> 00:00:43.830 align:middle line:84% and that I'm never ever thinking about you, 00:00:43.830 --> 00:00:45.200 align:middle line:90% not even for a minute. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:46.950 align:middle line:84% I want to say to you that it wouldn't even 00:00:46.950 --> 00:00:48.367 align:middle line:84% occur to me to sprinkle this paper 00:00:48.367 --> 00:00:50.760 align:middle line:84% with your favorite perfume because I remember nothing 00:00:50.760 --> 00:00:53.850 align:middle line:84% about that extract of sweet pea, or how it smells 00:00:53.850 --> 00:00:56.220 align:middle line:84% like springtime even in wintertime at the nape 00:00:56.220 --> 00:00:58.680 align:middle line:84% of your neck, or the square bottle it comes in, 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:00.990 align:middle line:90% with its pale pink ribbon. 00:01:00.990 --> 00:01:03.990 align:middle line:84% I don't remember you on the bench of the swan Gondola 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:06.340 align:middle line:84% your bare feet lifted from your slippers, 00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:10.992 align:middle line:84% a sea green paper parasol spinning on your shoulder. 00:01:10.992 --> 00:01:12.700 align:middle line:84% If you ever receive this letter your best 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:14.230 align:middle line:84% burn it before you lay eyes on it. 00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:16.570 align:middle line:84% This letter is too conflicted Mrs. Meadows. 00:01:16.570 --> 00:01:19.750 align:middle line:84% I never want your heart to break the way my heart is broken. 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:21.640 align:middle line:84% I don't believe in ghosts but maybe 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:23.410 align:middle line:90% I'll believe in yours anyway. 00:01:23.410 --> 00:01:26.578 align:middle line:84% I'm trying to escape you and everything else but mostly you 00:01:26.578 --> 00:01:28.120 align:middle line:84% and that's why I'm up in these clouds 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:30.078 align:middle line:84% but that's all I'll ever tell you about where-- 00:01:30.078 --> 00:01:31.210 align:middle line:90% about my whereabouts. 00:01:31.210 --> 00:01:33.310 align:middle line:84% Your restless spirit shouldn't try to find me. 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:34.490 align:middle line:90% Haunt somebody else. 00:01:34.490 --> 00:01:36.760 align:middle line:84% And when I'm a ghost too my ghost won't go anywhere 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:38.890 align:middle line:90% your ghost goes. 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.207 align:middle line:84% So many people came to the fair today on Halloween in costumes. 00:01:42.207 --> 00:01:44.290 align:middle line:84% And you might have been among them for all I know. 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:46.270 align:middle line:84% I did feel I could see something of you 00:01:46.270 --> 00:01:48.700 align:middle line:90% in every masked woman I passed. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:51.340 align:middle line:84% There'd be a quick bit of recognition in my heart 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:53.800 align:middle line:84% when a woman happened to be looking up and off the way you 00:01:53.800 --> 00:01:54.382 align:middle line:90% always did. 00:01:54.382 --> 00:01:55.840 align:middle line:84% Not like your nose is up in the air 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:58.000 align:middle line:84% but like you're studying a pattern and a cloud 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.190 align:middle line:84% or following the flight of a bird. 00:02:00.190 --> 00:02:02.920 align:middle line:84% And I don't mean to say you were a ghostly even before you died. 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:04.540 align:middle line:90% You were not some illusion. 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:09.039 align:middle line:84% You were never frail, never dreamy, sickly, doomed, never. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:10.289 align:middle line:90% You were none of those things. 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:15.380 align:middle line:84% That's why I still see you alive living everywhere I look. 00:02:15.380 --> 00:02:17.960 align:middle line:84% I made quite a fool of myself in front of a woman dressed 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:19.550 align:middle line:90% as Marie Antoinette. 00:02:19.550 --> 00:02:21.440 align:middle line:84% Her costume was much finer than the one 00:02:21.440 --> 00:02:24.230 align:middle line:84% you'd worn every night for the Chamber of horrors. 00:02:24.230 --> 00:02:26.690 align:middle line:84% Hers was silk and satin and her wig looked 00:02:26.690 --> 00:02:28.700 align:middle line:90% freshly spun and powdered. 00:02:28.700 --> 00:02:30.110 align:middle line:84% She had that sweet habit of yours 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:31.800 align:middle line:84% of twisting a loose strand of hair 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:33.050 align:middle line:90% around and around your finger. 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:35.990 align:middle line:84% But it was all part of the contraption of her disguise. 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:38.000 align:middle line:84% With each tug of the curl she fluttered 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.390 align:middle line:84% the wings of the three toy butterflies in her wig. 00:02:41.390 --> 00:02:43.280 align:middle line:84% My own mask pushed up from my face 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.610 align:middle line:84% and atop my head I watched Little Miss not you for minutes 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:48.410 align:middle line:84% and minutes convincing myself you'd 00:02:48.410 --> 00:02:51.650 align:middle line:84% returned even as I failed to see very much of anything of you 00:02:51.650 --> 00:02:52.640 align:middle line:90% in this stranger. 00:02:52.640 --> 00:02:55.430 align:middle line:84% I became certain though that I knew very well 00:02:55.430 --> 00:02:57.770 align:middle line:84% the beat of her tiny pulse in her throat 00:02:57.770 --> 00:03:00.800 align:middle line:84% and a freckle of the inside of her wrist. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.020 align:middle line:84% I followed her as she weaved through the street 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:06.440 align:middle line:84% the crowd partying for her and her grand skirts that bounced 00:03:06.440 --> 00:03:09.040 align:middle line:90% and shimmied like on a spring. 00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:11.380 align:middle line:84% I finally said your name, touched her elbow 00:03:11.380 --> 00:03:12.430 align:middle line:90% and she turned. 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:14.740 align:middle line:84% A mask of peacock feathers held to her face 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:16.540 align:middle line:90% by sticking her hand. 00:03:16.540 --> 00:03:19.900 align:middle line:84% I touched her wrist and lowered her mask. 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:22.390 align:middle line:84% I didn't recognize her but she recognized me. 00:03:22.390 --> 00:03:26.590 align:middle line:84% I mean to say she recognized my sadness and her happiness fell 00:03:26.590 --> 00:03:31.230 align:middle line:84% and she stepped back away her mask returning to her eyes. 00:03:31.230 --> 00:03:33.510 align:middle line:90% The fair ends today my love. 00:03:33.510 --> 00:03:35.310 align:middle line:90% I'm so glad you won't see it. 00:03:35.310 --> 00:03:36.780 align:middle line:90% Everyone was thieving. 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:38.730 align:middle line:84% They're like Hansel and Gretel tearing away 00:03:38.730 --> 00:03:40.170 align:middle line:90% at the buildings of sugar. 00:03:40.170 --> 00:03:42.600 align:middle line:84% They're breaking windows, toppling cornices. 00:03:42.600 --> 00:03:46.180 align:middle line:84% They're snatching spoons and salt shakers. 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:49.990 align:middle line:84% The fair is to be torn down beam by beam, the lagoon drained, 00:03:49.990 --> 00:03:52.840 align:middle line:84% the carpets rolled up starting tomorrow. 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:55.860 align:middle line:84% It'll all be gone whether we take it or not. 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:59.907 align:middle line:84% All I took was a balloon, which is mostly thin air anyway. 00:03:59.907 --> 00:04:01.490 align:middle line:84% If they will let the place fall apart, 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:03.770 align:middle line:84% I would visit the ruins as an old man, a better man 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:06.620 align:middle line:84% than I ever could have imagined I'd someday be in top hat 00:04:06.620 --> 00:04:08.510 align:middle line:90% and overcoat and monocle. 00:04:08.510 --> 00:04:11.270 align:middle line:84% The swan Gondola its long neck broken 00:04:11.270 --> 00:04:14.120 align:middle line:84% would sit shipwrecked at the bottom of the dry lagoon. 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:17.630 align:middle line:84% The fossils of leaves speckling the winged hole. 00:04:17.630 --> 00:04:21.110 align:middle line:84% The fairgrounds deserved to become a sad, battered monument 00:04:21.110 --> 00:04:23.330 align:middle line:90% to every lost thing of beauty. 00:04:23.330 --> 00:04:26.210 align:middle line:84% Sentimentally yours, I was never sentimental 00:04:26.210 --> 00:04:28.145 align:middle line:84% before you happened to me ferret. 00:04:28.145 --> 00:04:30.750 align:middle line:90% 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:34.710 align:middle line:84% And then the next section is labeled October 00:04:34.710 --> 00:04:39.500 align:middle line:90% through November 1898. 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:41.630 align:middle line:84% And it's not a letter, it's narrative. 00:04:41.630 --> 00:04:43.400 align:middle line:84% Emmeline and Hester known in the counties 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:45.980 align:middle line:84% the old sisters Egan took their coffee cowboy style. 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:48.200 align:middle line:84% The ground's fried up in a pan to a bitter sludge 00:04:48.200 --> 00:04:50.927 align:middle line:84% then stirred into China teacups of hot water. 00:04:50.927 --> 00:04:53.510 align:middle line:84% They had their afternoon shot as they called it at the kitchen 00:04:53.510 --> 00:04:56.420 align:middle line:84% table, sharing a slice of a wet and heavy rum cake that 00:04:56.420 --> 00:04:59.080 align:middle line:90% gave them each a dizzy spell. 00:04:59.080 --> 00:05:01.330 align:middle line:84% The day had been as peaceful as any they'd ever known. 00:05:01.330 --> 00:05:03.920 align:middle line:84% So peaceful they'd only just commented on it so very, 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:04.720 align:middle line:90% very quiet. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.900 align:middle line:84% It's an Emmeline in her delicate dreamy voice drawing the words 00:05:07.900 --> 00:05:09.970 align:middle line:84% out, strumming her fingers through the air 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:13.120 align:middle line:84% back and forth like across the strings of a harp. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.890 align:middle line:84% Learn to love it, said Hester because it's 00:05:14.890 --> 00:05:16.900 align:middle line:90% the racketeer grave. 00:05:16.900 --> 00:05:20.800 align:middle line:84% At the other end of the word grave, the house fell dark. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.835 align:middle line:84% The sunlight at the window seemed blown out 00:05:22.835 --> 00:05:23.710 align:middle line:90% with a sudden breath. 00:05:23.710 --> 00:05:26.290 align:middle line:84% But with a rumble and a roar and a shattered glass 00:05:26.290 --> 00:05:28.510 align:middle line:84% the house shrieked and shivered, its joints 00:05:28.510 --> 00:05:30.550 align:middle line:90% and orchestra of great strain. 00:05:30.550 --> 00:05:33.940 align:middle line:84% Emmeline's set of China long since excavated 00:05:33.940 --> 00:05:36.190 align:middle line:84% from her abandoned bridal trousseau 00:05:36.190 --> 00:05:38.140 align:middle line:84% dropped from its tall cabinet plate 00:05:38.140 --> 00:05:41.830 align:middle line:84% by plate by plate smashing in an even rhythm chipping 00:05:41.830 --> 00:05:45.240 align:middle line:84% at Emmeline's heart with each staccato burst. 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:46.990 align:middle line:84% For nearly two decades now the old sisters 00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:48.790 align:middle line:84% Egan had struggled to keep the outdoors out 00:05:48.790 --> 00:05:49.750 align:middle line:90% and the indoors in. 00:05:49.750 --> 00:05:52.600 align:middle line:84% To preserve a city elegance in order in their drafty country 00:05:52.600 --> 00:05:54.640 align:middle line:84% home they always removed their muddy boots 00:05:54.640 --> 00:05:56.020 align:middle line:90% before stepping inside. 00:05:56.020 --> 00:05:59.470 align:middle line:84% On their floors, wood planks culled from old hemlock trees 00:05:59.470 --> 00:06:00.880 align:middle line:90% they kept Persian rugs. 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:03.610 align:middle line:84% Their living room every evening glowed a shade of jaundice 00:06:03.610 --> 00:06:06.100 align:middle line:84% from the oil lamps and they strained their eyes 00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:07.480 align:middle line:90% to read in the dim light. 00:06:07.480 --> 00:06:10.150 align:middle line:84% Their walls were lined with books bound another. 00:06:10.150 --> 00:06:12.970 align:middle line:84% Emmeline read in Russian novels in the original Russian 00:06:12.970 --> 00:06:14.530 align:middle line:84% having retained the mother tongue 00:06:14.530 --> 00:06:17.680 align:middle line:84% while Hester read volumes on medicine and remedies. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.080 align:middle line:84% Some books tumbled from their shelves. 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:23.770 align:middle line:84% Balls of yarn fell from a basket to roll and unravel. 00:06:23.770 --> 00:06:25.540 align:middle line:84% A shadow box containing the wreath 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:29.410 align:middle line:84% of a braid of a dead niece gone too soon fell from its nail 00:06:29.410 --> 00:06:32.920 align:middle line:84% in the wall, the domed glass of the frame shattering. 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:35.200 align:middle line:84% The caged birds that sang through every minute 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:37.512 align:middle line:90% of sunlight fell silent. 00:06:37.512 --> 00:06:39.220 align:middle line:84% The old sisters Egan looked at each other 00:06:39.220 --> 00:06:41.410 align:middle line:84% to share in their shock a drama toward which 00:06:41.410 --> 00:06:43.750 align:middle line:84% Emmeline had always been inclined but never ever 00:06:43.750 --> 00:06:44.590 align:middle line:90% had Hester. 00:06:44.590 --> 00:06:46.840 align:middle line:84% And they took each other's hands gripping tight. 00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:49.390 align:middle line:84% I'm unafraid Emmeline thought, pleased 00:06:49.390 --> 00:06:53.410 align:middle line:84% that she had at least this last sublime split second of Hester 00:06:53.410 --> 00:06:56.140 align:middle line:90% seeking ease. 00:06:56.140 --> 00:06:58.390 align:middle line:84% Despite all this wreckage and some chimney bricks that 00:06:58.390 --> 00:07:01.150 align:middle line:84% dropped into the hearth and choked the parlor with smoke 00:07:01.150 --> 00:07:03.250 align:middle line:84% and soot, the old sisters Egan realized 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:05.350 align:middle line:84% the house wasn't being lifted from its moorings 00:07:05.350 --> 00:07:07.690 align:middle line:84% by an unlikely late autumn tornado, 00:07:07.690 --> 00:07:10.300 align:middle line:90% something had fallen upon them. 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:12.850 align:middle line:84% Hester opened the front door and took a slow step back, 00:07:12.850 --> 00:07:13.690 align:middle line:90% confused. 00:07:13.690 --> 00:07:16.510 align:middle line:84% Worried that the drapery before her that cloaked the outdoors 00:07:16.510 --> 00:07:17.350 align:middle line:90% was a plot. 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:21.200 align:middle line:84% The entire house shrouded in an act of theft or invasion. 00:07:21.200 --> 00:07:22.840 align:middle line:84% She lifted the rifle from the umbrella 00:07:22.840 --> 00:07:25.510 align:middle line:84% stand and cradled it, softly scratching her cheek 00:07:25.510 --> 00:07:27.490 align:middle line:90% with the end of the barrel. 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:29.843 align:middle line:84% Emmeline recognized the pale yellow gray fabric 00:07:29.843 --> 00:07:30.760 align:middle line:90% that hung before them. 00:07:30.760 --> 00:07:33.220 align:middle line:90% Oh, she said, Hester, it's silk. 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:35.410 align:middle line:84% She reached out the door and stroked the silk 00:07:35.410 --> 00:07:37.310 align:middle line:90% with the backs of her fingers. 00:07:37.310 --> 00:07:39.310 align:middle line:84% They put on the new coats they bought for travel 00:07:39.310 --> 00:07:41.770 align:middle line:84% to the fair last month, the black sleeves and shoulders 00:07:41.770 --> 00:07:43.210 align:middle line:90% fashionably over puffed.-- 00:07:43.210 --> 00:07:45.190 align:middle line:84% The coats had felt so conspicuous 00:07:45.190 --> 00:07:47.710 align:middle line:84% they'd ended up not wearing them to the fair after all 00:07:47.710 --> 00:07:50.980 align:middle line:84% and had never once worn them even off the farm. 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:54.370 align:middle line:84% They stepped into the silk, lifting it, swimming out, 00:07:54.370 --> 00:07:57.580 align:middle line:84% hunkering down nearly crawling to the other side. 00:07:57.580 --> 00:07:59.230 align:middle line:84% With the barrel of her rifle, Hester 00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:01.180 align:middle line:84% pushed the drape of the silk from her path. 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:04.162 align:middle line:84% Once they had stepped away from the house they looked up. 00:08:04.162 --> 00:08:05.620 align:middle line:84% They might have begun to worry over 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.630 align:middle line:84% the damage that had been done had they not 00:08:07.630 --> 00:08:10.900 align:middle line:84% been so overwhelmed by the sight of this deflated balloon 00:08:10.900 --> 00:08:13.990 align:middle line:84% consuming, concealing their farmhouse. 00:08:13.990 --> 00:08:16.210 align:middle line:84% They walked arm in arm backward to take it 00:08:16.210 --> 00:08:17.920 align:middle line:84% all in leaning in toward each other 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.190 align:middle line:84% their heads lifted to the roof, to the sky. 00:08:21.190 --> 00:08:23.740 align:middle line:84% They witnessed so much during their lives in the farm. 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:25.270 align:middle line:84% One summer they'd murdered a herd 00:08:25.270 --> 00:08:27.010 align:middle line:84% of cattle shooting them to spare them 00:08:27.010 --> 00:08:28.720 align:middle line:90% death from a painful disease. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:31.900 align:middle line:84% They'd lost crops to plagues of weevils and worms. 00:08:31.900 --> 00:08:34.390 align:middle line:84% They'd built raging fires and fruitless efforts 00:08:34.390 --> 00:08:36.250 align:middle line:90% to ward off a freeze. 00:08:36.250 --> 00:08:39.850 align:middle line:84% They'd come to Nebraska together lured by promise of plenitude 00:08:39.850 --> 00:08:42.370 align:middle line:90% but there had been no mercy. 00:08:42.370 --> 00:08:44.860 align:middle line:84% The farm had given them little and had taken much 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:46.630 align:middle line:90% of what they brought with them. 00:08:46.630 --> 00:08:49.900 align:middle line:84% But this fallen ruined balloon, it 00:08:49.900 --> 00:08:52.180 align:middle line:84% seemed a generosity of spirit dropped 00:08:52.180 --> 00:08:55.390 align:middle line:84% down upon them from heaven finally at least 00:08:55.390 --> 00:08:58.360 align:middle line:84% a worthless senseless bit of wonder. 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:00.850 align:middle line:84% Emmeline and Hester listened to the gentle rippling 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:04.720 align:middle line:84% of the silk sounding like wind on wheat fields. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.210 align:middle line:84% Escaped the circus, Hester wondered. 00:09:07.210 --> 00:09:08.770 align:middle line:84% When Hester squinted she can nearly 00:09:08.770 --> 00:09:11.770 align:middle line:84% imagine the grayish silk as the skin of a runaway elephant 00:09:11.770 --> 00:09:12.880 align:middle line:90% popped with a pin. 00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:15.790 align:middle line:84% At the end of the front lane was a stone bench no one ever 00:09:15.790 --> 00:09:19.540 align:middle line:84% sat upon and they sat on it to watch the balloon do nothing. 00:09:19.540 --> 00:09:21.700 align:middle line:84% Surely any minute now they'd be overrun 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:24.310 align:middle line:84% by people from town, the curiosity seekers who 00:09:24.310 --> 00:09:26.920 align:middle line:84% might have caught sight of the balloon falling. 00:09:26.920 --> 00:09:29.530 align:middle line:84% But so rarely did people look up at the sky. 00:09:29.530 --> 00:09:33.840 align:middle line:84% Their eyes were always cast down on that stubborn Earth. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.680 align:middle line:84% Was the skies endlessness too unsettling? 00:09:37.680 --> 00:09:39.360 align:middle line:84% Esther glanced across the horizon 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.520 align:middle line:90% at a train on a distant track. 00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:43.470 align:middle line:84% Some days she could hear its clattering, 00:09:43.470 --> 00:09:47.340 align:middle line:84% the sound small, minuscule almost unheard like the tick 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:50.088 align:middle line:90% and were of a pocket watch. 00:09:50.088 --> 00:09:52.380 align:middle line:84% The old sisters Egan and all the strangeness and clamor 00:09:52.380 --> 00:09:54.900 align:middle line:84% didn't realize just then they'd seen this balloon before 00:09:54.900 --> 00:09:56.790 align:middle line:84% and that they knew well of its origins. 00:09:56.790 --> 00:09:58.530 align:middle line:90% It was a relic of the Civil War. 00:09:58.530 --> 00:10:00.340 align:middle line:84% At the Omaha World's Fair war balloons 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:03.090 align:middle line:84% had been tethered to the tops of a few buildings for display 00:10:03.090 --> 00:10:05.537 align:middle line:84% balloons that had been used by both sides for spying 00:10:05.537 --> 00:10:06.120 align:middle line:90% and surveying. 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:07.830 align:middle line:84% And this one, the Confederate one, 00:10:07.830 --> 00:10:10.110 align:middle line:84% had been sewn from silk that would otherwise 00:10:10.110 --> 00:10:11.910 align:middle line:90% have been used for dresses. 00:10:11.910 --> 00:10:14.213 align:middle line:84% When Hester had heard the guide speak of dress silk 00:10:14.213 --> 00:10:15.630 align:middle line:84% she pictured all the pretty belles 00:10:15.630 --> 00:10:18.430 align:middle line:84% of the South carrying armloads of gowns to the war cause. 00:10:18.430 --> 00:10:20.430 align:middle line:84% She'd pictured the women looking as Emmeline had 00:10:20.430 --> 00:10:21.690 align:middle line:90% looked when she'd been young. 00:10:21.690 --> 00:10:23.640 align:middle line:84% She'd pictured rows of women with scissors 00:10:23.640 --> 00:10:26.460 align:middle line:84% picking it stitches, dismantling the dresses, 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:28.260 align:middle line:84% then restitching the wrecked skirts 00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:30.750 align:middle line:84% and bodices, the monogrammed handkerchiefs 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:35.340 align:middle line:84% and ruffled bloomers into a vast delicate patchwork quilt. 00:10:35.340 --> 00:10:38.010 align:middle line:84% But before the illusion could linger long, 00:10:38.010 --> 00:10:40.200 align:middle line:84% the speaker in the hall corrected it. 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:43.440 align:middle line:84% Dress silk he repeated not silk dresses. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.800 align:middle line:84% And as the crowd giggled, the image of ladies sacrificing 00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:49.420 align:middle line:90% faded away collectively. 00:10:49.420 --> 00:10:51.940 align:middle line:84% The pilot, Emmeline said with a start. 00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:52.510 align:middle line:90% Where? 00:10:52.510 --> 00:10:53.282 align:middle line:90% Hester said. 00:10:53.282 --> 00:10:54.490 align:middle line:90% Well, I don't know, she said. 00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:56.562 align:middle line:90% But wouldn't there be one? 00:10:56.562 --> 00:10:58.270 align:middle line:84% The women leapt from the bench and walked 00:10:58.270 --> 00:10:59.710 align:middle line:84% to where the balloons ropes led them 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:01.002 align:middle line:90% to the other side of the house. 00:11:01.002 --> 00:11:04.060 align:middle line:84% The brittle shards of dry grass crackled beneath their boots. 00:11:04.060 --> 00:11:06.700 align:middle line:84% They discovered the wicker basket upright on the ground. 00:11:06.700 --> 00:11:09.820 align:middle line:84% It tipped just slightly empty but for a bottle of perfume 00:11:09.820 --> 00:11:11.470 align:middle line:84% that it somehow kept from falling out 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:15.280 align:middle line:84% extract of sweet pea, stoppard with a cork its neck knotted 00:11:15.280 --> 00:11:17.850 align:middle line:84% round with a rose colored ribbon. 00:11:17.850 --> 00:11:20.160 align:middle line:84% As the old sisters Egan scanned the landscape 00:11:20.160 --> 00:11:24.000 align:middle line:84% seeking survivors or victims, Emmeline uncorked the bottle 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.690 align:middle line:84% and dabbed fingertips of scent to the inside of her wrist. 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:30.720 align:middle line:84% Emmeline and Hester walked in opposite directions searching. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:32.430 align:middle line:84% Before catching sight of the pilot, 00:11:32.430 --> 00:11:34.500 align:middle line:84% Emmeline discovered a slightly cracked mask 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:35.820 align:middle line:90% of papier-mache in the dirt. 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:37.920 align:middle line:84% Crouching she picked up the mask with a chin 00:11:37.920 --> 00:11:39.600 align:middle line:90% with her finger and thumb. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.760 align:middle line:90% The face hadn't much character. 00:11:41.760 --> 00:11:44.250 align:middle line:84% A simple pink face with puckered red lips 00:11:44.250 --> 00:11:47.160 align:middle line:84% and wide curious childlike eyes of blue. 00:11:47.160 --> 00:11:48.870 align:middle line:84% She held it to her own face to see 00:11:48.870 --> 00:11:51.120 align:middle line:84% how things looked through the tiny pinholes 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.050 align:middle line:90% and she scanned the horizon. 00:11:53.050 --> 00:11:55.230 align:middle line:90% It was then she found the pilot. 00:11:55.230 --> 00:11:58.530 align:middle line:84% He was alive, flat on his back on the ground not far off, 00:11:58.530 --> 00:12:00.840 align:middle line:84% his fists and his jaw clenched tight, 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:03.720 align:middle line:90% his left leg in an awful bend. 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.480 align:middle line:84% Why wouldn't he just scream, Emmeline wondered. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.120 align:middle line:90% Why doesn't he beg us for help? 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:11.450 align:middle line:84% Maybe she considered he mistook the tall shoulders 00:12:11.450 --> 00:12:14.750 align:middle line:84% of their high fashion coats for the dark wings of death angels. 00:12:14.750 --> 00:12:18.770 align:middle line:84% Maybe he suspected them of scavenging for souls. 00:12:18.770 --> 00:12:20.450 align:middle line:84% Emmeline squatted next to the man as 00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:21.860 align:middle line:84% has to press the point of arrival 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:23.840 align:middle line:90% to the man's left temple. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:26.210 align:middle line:84% Emmeline pushed the end of Hester's gun away 00:12:26.210 --> 00:12:27.770 align:middle line:90% and she took the man's hand. 00:12:27.770 --> 00:12:29.960 align:middle line:90% She whispered a lie in his ear. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:33.250 align:middle line:90% Your leg isn't broken, she said. 00:12:33.250 --> 00:12:35.350 align:middle line:84% I can fix whatever's sick, the man 00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:38.590 align:middle line:84% said, appearing delirious, heady from pain. 00:12:38.590 --> 00:12:40.570 align:middle line:84% He snapped his fingers and a card 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:42.100 align:middle line:90% slipped out from up his sleeve. 00:12:42.100 --> 00:12:46.270 align:middle line:84% B Ferret Skerritt, the card read, Omaha, Nebraska. 00:12:46.270 --> 00:12:48.940 align:middle line:84% And on the back this sleight of hand you just witnessed 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:52.070 align:middle line:90% is only a hint of my wizardry. 00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:54.590 align:middle line:84% Emmeline removed her fancy coat and laid on the ground. 00:12:54.590 --> 00:12:57.260 align:middle line:84% The old sisters Egan lifted the pilot his body between them 00:12:57.260 --> 00:12:58.550 align:middle line:90% and put him atop the coat. 00:12:58.550 --> 00:13:00.710 align:middle line:84% They then carried him in the sling of it 00:13:00.710 --> 00:13:02.930 align:middle line:84% like on a stretcher to the barn where Hester 00:13:02.930 --> 00:13:06.620 align:middle line:84% kept an apothecary cabinet, veterinary implements, 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:09.380 align:middle line:90% strips of muslin, tins of ether. 00:13:09.380 --> 00:13:10.790 align:middle line:90% And I'll stop there. 00:13:10.790 --> 00:13:12.640 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:13:12.640 --> 00:13:20.000 align:middle line:90%